Thousands march in Rome to protest 'complicity' on Gaza war
HUNDREDS of thousands of people marched through the streets of Rome on Saturday to protest the war in Gaza in a rally called by opposition parties denouncing the government's alleged 'complicity' in the conflict.
'Stop the massacre, stop complicity!' read a wide banner held by protestors at the start of the march, amid a sea of red, white and green Palestinian flags, peace flags and 'Free Palestine' signs.
The peaceful protest attracted a massive crowd -- estimated by organisers at 300,000 people. Police had not provided official size estimates.
It made its way from Rome's central Piazza Vittorio to San Giovanni, where speakers took to a stage to urge an end to the violence and denounce what some called the silence of the far-right Italian government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, called the turnout 'an enormous popular response' in opposition to the war.
Italy's Five Star Movement and the Greens-Left Alliance were also behind the protest.
The demonstration was 'to say enough to the massacre of Palestinians, to say enough to the crimes of Netanyahu's far-right government' and to show the world 'another Italy', Schlein told journalists.
'An Italy that does not keep silent as the Meloni government does, an Italy that instead wants peace, wants an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, humanitarian aid, and wants recognition of the state of Palestine,' she said.
Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine.
In Italy, Meloni has been pushed by the opposition to condemn the actions of Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza, but her criticism has been tempered.
Last month, Meloni called the humanitarian situation 'increasingly dramatic and unjustifiable' and said she had had 'often difficult conversations' with Netanyahu, while at the same time noting that 'it was not Israel that started the hostilities'.
Many protesters came from across Italy to participate in the demonstration in the capitol, including Gabriella Branca, a lawyer from Genoa.
'It's unbearable to witness the massacre of 60,000 people, including 20,000 children. We have to say enough,' the 67-year-old told AFP.
'In other countries, as you know, demonstrations have drawn millions of people, so I hope that today in Rome we can send a signal to all of Italy, so that everyone takes to the streets to say enough and above all, to try to find peace,' she said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
A student at Brown University channelled Elon Musk. Then he got in trouble
Thousands of administrative employees at Brown University woke up this spring to an email with pointed Elon Musk-like questions about their job responsibilities. Please describe your role, it asked. What tasks have you performed in the past week? How would Brown students be affected if your job didn't exist? The March 18 email was from a sophomore, Alex Shieh, who explained that the responses would be included in a story for The Brown Spectator , a new, as yet unpublished conservative newspaper on campus. His questions were undoubtedly sensitive for elite universities like Brown, where the cost of tuition, housing and other fees has risen to US$93,000 (RM 394,785) . Critics, including President Donald Trump, accuse the schools of padding their budgets with redundant layers of deans and associate deans, bloated diversity programs and niche academic divisions. Many recipients of the email, including those in the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards, were not amused – no doubt aware that Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency was ripping like a hacksaw through the federal bureaucracy, had asked government employees similar kinds of questions. Two days later, Brown notified Shieh that he was under investigation for possible violations of the university's code of student conduct, including its prohibitions on invasion of privacy, misrepresentation and emotional or psychological harm. With that, his case – and that of two Spectator students who were later placed under investigation – became the latest flashpoint in the free speech wars on American college campuses. Brown eventually cleared all three students of wrongdoing. But their case is yet another example of how universities continue to struggle with protecting the rights of students to express themselves on campus, after years of trying to adjudicate just when political expression tips into harassment. The story quickly became a cause on the right – more evidence, conservatives said, that higher education is stacked against them and needs the government to step in to force reform. Fox News, Charlie Kirk and The New York Post ran with stories about what they saw as this new affront. And on Wednesday, Shieh testified before a House committee investigating high tuition costs. Brown was already under political pressure. The Trump administration is threatening to block US$510mil (RM2.16bil) in federal contracts and grants for the Providence, Rhode Island, university – part of a campaign to hold universities accountable for tolerating pro-Palestinian activism that many Jewish students and faculty saw as antisemitic. A spokesperson for Brown said that the university followed a standard procedure for students accused of conduct violations, and that this case was no different. 'Brown proceeded in complete accordance with free expression guarantees and appropriate procedural safeguards under University policies and applicable law,' Brian Clark, the spokesperson, said. Universities are generally able to impose restrictions on some speech in the name of fostering respect and tolerance. But 'just because the school can regulate something generally doesn't mean they should – or that they can weaponise those regulations against a certain speaker,' said Dominic Coletti, of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free-speech advocacy group that intervened in Shieh's case and urged Brown to drop its investigation. Shieh, a computer science-economics major, has been something of a campus gadfly, known as 'the Fox News kid' for his involvement in conservative politics and occasional national media appearances. Early in the semester, he and about a dozen other students were discussing the relaunch of The Brown Spectator , which had been defunct for a decade. They agreed to do an article on the increase in administrative positions at the university, an issue throughout academia that critics say illustrates how colleges have strayed from their core educational functions. Then in February, when Musk demanded that federal workers justify their jobs or risk termination, Shieh borrowed the idea. First, he created a database that listed all 3,800 staff and administrative positions at Brown and categorised them based on an artificial intelligence-powered analysis of the work each position entailed. Then, when he sent the email on March 18, Shieh included a link to his website along with the questions about job responsibilities. He also asked employees to comment on his characterisations of their work, since not all of them were flattering. Shieh said that he was trying to make a universal point about the cost of higher education. 'It's not inherently conservative to want to make education more affordable,' he said. The vast majority of the people who received the email ignored it. Some complained to the university. A few replies seemed to forget the Queen's English. But several employees described the value of their jobs: among them, a teaching assistant with 95 students; a financial coordinator who handles office expenses; an actor who role-plays a sick patient for medical students. Brown says its administrative staff of 3,800 has expanded to support a growing number of students and projects it undertakes as a top research university. Between 2014 and 2024, undergraduate enrollment rose by 18%, and graduate student enrollment by 59%. At first, Shieh's email caused some confusion because The Spectator was not known on campus. To ensure their independence, the students said they did not register with the university, nor were they required to. (They did register with the state of Rhode Island, where Brown is located, as a nonprofit corporation in February.) The university had concerns that Shieh, who is listed in public filings as the publisher of The Spectator, had falsely presented himself as a reporter and had improperly accessed university data systems containing staff information, most of which was publicly available. Some employees took umbrage with having their jobs described as wasteful and insignificant. After some discussions with Shieh and representatives from FIRE, Brown decided to drop the misrepresentation charge. But the university also added a new allegation: trademark infringement. It accused Shieh of using the university's name in the Spectator's title without permission. After his colleagues at The Brown Spectator published an editorial arguing that a vibrant campus depended on 'the freedom to ask hard questions, publish unpopular opinions, and hold powerful institutions to account' – hardly a controversial position –the university notified two of them that they could face discipline for a trademark violation as well. Benjamin Marcus, editor-in-chief of The Spectator , said that before publishing its editorial, he and the managing editor joked, 'There's no way they're going to charge us.' Both students soon learned their confidence was misplaced. Even so, Marcus said that his disciplinary experience felt like a relief compared with his experience on campus as an Orthodox Jew and supporter of Israel. Brown, unlike many other schools, called in the police relatively early when student protesters occupied university property, resulting in dozens of arrests. But some students felt that the university had allowed a hostile atmosphere toward Jews to take root. 'I got heckled, spit at, flipped off,' Marcus said. 'It was very rough.' To then face disciplinary action from the university – with finals approaching – was confusing, he said. 'I don't want to pick a fight with the university,' said Marcus, who is also president of the College Republicans. 'I just want the paper to be alive and well.' Last week, the university released a formal values statement that its president said was intended to articulate in 'plain, uncomplicated terms' a commitment to learning 'without interference or censorship.' For the first time, Brown also adopted a formal policy to forgo any public statements 'on topics unrelated to its mission.' Glenn C. Loury, an economics professor at Brown known for his contrarian views, said that it was encouraging to see the campus, and higher education in general, make what he considered small commitments to free speech. Still, he said, 'I don't expect universities to be remade overnight.' In the meantime, he suggested that Brown may have inadvertently lifted the prospects for both Shieh and The Spectator . 'He seems to be having a good time,' Loury said of Shieh, whom he has taught and found to be smart, driven and self-aware. 'Going after these kids wasn't the wisest move.' After a 10-year hiatus, the first issues of The Brown Spectator started appearing on campus last month – 700 copies, according to Marcus. Before distributing them, he said, The Spectator notified the university. – © 2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times
The Star
5 hours ago
- The Star
PM urges Asean-GCC to act on Gaza
PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called for stronger cooperation between Asean countries and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to end Israel's atrocities in Gaza. Speaking to reporters after performing Aidiladha prayers at Masjid Putra here yesterday, Anwar said that regional and international collective efforts are crucial to ending the prolonged conflict and the suffering of the Palestinian people. 'We've conveyed our stance (through a Wisma Putra statement), but this cannot be the effort of just one country. As we saw in recent engagements with Gulf nations, there is a shared consensus. 'So Asean, the Gulf states and a few other countries can come together to provide a clear message and exert strong pressure on the world to put a stop to it (Israel's brutality),' he said, Bernama reported. He was responding to the United States' use of its veto power on a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the lifting of restrictions on humanitarian aid. Malaysia has expressed deep regret and disappointment over the repeated failure of the UNSC to adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire, as well as the removal of restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza. In a statement last Thursday, the Foreign Ministry stressed that the UNSC's repeated failure to act on one of the worst humanitarian tragedies since World War II, due to the use of veto power, is regrettable and deeply disappointing. Anwar also said that the continued actions of countries supplying arms to Israel are unacceptable and go against the principles of international law. 'It's contradictory when they issue statements of condemnation, yet continue to supply or sell weapons to Israel. Such actions violate the principles of international law and humanitarian norms. 'We strongly condemn (the atrocities) and seek diplomatic avenues to support the Palestinian struggle and help them reclaim their legitimate rights, including in Gaza,' Anwar said. Separately, Anwar said during phone conversations with leaders of other Muslim nations, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, they had expressed concern over the violence committed by the Zionist regime. 'All of them conveyed a clear stance, and we have agreed to continue consultations to find a resolution to this crisis as soon as possible,' he added.
The Sun
6 hours ago
- The Sun
Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36, six of them near aid centre
GAZA CITY: Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians on Saturday, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution centre. The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired 'warning shots' at individuals that it said were 'advancing in a way that endangered the troops'. The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in the southern district of Rafah and came after it resumed distributions following a brief suspension in the wake of similar deaths earlier this week. Meanwhile, an aid boat with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was nearing Gaza in a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the face of an Israeli blockade that has only been partially eased. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), 'six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout', where they had gathered to seek humanitarian aid from the distribution centre around a kilometre (a little over half a mile) away. AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls compiled by the civil defence agency or the circumstances of the deaths it reports. Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early Saturday, told AFP that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout. 'As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians,' Abu Hadid said. The GHF said in a statement it had not distributed aid on Saturday because of 'direct threats' from Hamas. It said it was adapting its operations to 'overcome these threats' and planned to 'resume distributions without delay'. Activist boat nears Gaza The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations in late May as Israel partially eased a more than two-month-long aid blockade. UN agencies and major aid groups have declined to work with it, citing concerns it serves Israeli military goals. On Saturday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that the overall toll for the Gaza war had reached 54,772, the majority civilians. The UN considers these figures reliable. The war was sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the UN warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine. The aid boat Madleen, organised by an international activist coalition, was sailing towards Gaza on Saturday, aiming to breach Israel's naval blockade and deliver aid to the territory, organisers said. 'We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast,' German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP. She said they expected to reach Gaza by Monday morning. The Palestinian territory was under Israeli naval blockade even before Hamas's October 2023 attack and the Israeli military has made clear it intends to enforce it. 'For this case as well, we are prepared,' army spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said on Tuesday. 'We have gained experience in recent years, and we will act accordingly.' A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar attempt to breach Israel's naval blockade, left 10 civilians dead. Body of Thai hostage recovered The Israeli military has stepped up its operations in Gaza in recent weeks in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war. On Saturday, the military issued evacuation orders for neighbourhoods in northern Gaza, saying they had been used for rocket attacks. Meanwhile the World Health Organisation said in a statement there were no functioning hospitals left in northern Gaza and said the healthcare system in the territory was collapsing. It also warned that the last two functioning hospitals in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza were at risk and called for them to be protected. Separately, in a special operation in the Rafah area on Friday, Israeli forces retrieved the body of Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta, Defence Minister Israel Katz said. Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said the country was 'deeply saddened' by his death. Also on Saturday, Hamas released a photograph of one of the remaining hostages, Matan Zangauker, appearing to be in poor health, with a warning that he would not survive. During the October 2023 attack, militants abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 the Israeli military says are dead. bur-kir/dcp/ysm
